I don’t know about you, but I like when tourists tell me what they think of my country when they visit for the first time. Sometimes I forget why Canada is so awesome. I’ve lived here my whole life so everything seems fairly normal. I want to write about my first impression of Europe for anyone who is curious about what a Canadian thinks of another continent.

My first trip to Europe was a 2 week tour of France with my Grade 12 French class. I was beyond excited. Europe had always seemed like some mystical far away land that I learned about growing up. I have also always loved old looking roads and buildings, probably because of the Lord of the Rings, but also it’s neat to think that a long time ago someone spent forever creating them.

We first landed in Frankfurt, Germany which I was incredibly excited about. My Opa speaks German, but is from Austria, but it still felt like I was in his home land (don’t tell him I compared the two!). I had never seen so many German things in one area so I took pictures of the most random things. Again, we only had a layover in the Frankfurt Airport so I didn’t even leave the building. I have a picture that whenever I see it, I become humbled again knowing how excited I was about the smallest things. We always had sandwiches at my Opa’s house and got our deli meat from a European grocery store, so naturally, I had to take a picture of the first sandwich I saw in Germany.

As I said, I took pictures of the most random things. Quite honestly I’m not sure if this is the same throughout the whole country but I liked seeing different looking restroom people.

Our next stop was in Nice, France, where we stayed a couple of nights. My memory might be brutal here so I will focus on first impressions. It was my first time to the Mediterranean Sea so we immediately dipped our feet in. It was absolutely freezing because it was March, but at least now I can say I’ve been in it. We took a tour bus up to our hotel that was at the top of a hill. This was probably the most sketchy drive I’ve ever been on. This is where I realized how small the roads were. There were hairpin turns all the way up what seemed like a cliff and the bus driver didn’t seem to mind that half the bus was off the road each turn.

I would absolutely love to go to Nice again, it was so lovely. I also got to see the old buildings I was hoping for.

We took a day trip to Monaco, and this is where I found an alley way I had always dreamed of seeing. You would never find this in Canada.

Finally we climbed the stairs to a lookout to oversee the entire city, and it was definitely worth the climb.

I was looking forward to seeing a typical arena/colliseum building because of learning about it in social studies… and was excited that we were able to enter into one. This is my friend juggling in the middle of the arena:

It probably doesn’t compare to what you’d find in Rome, but I was satisfied.

What’s something that you need to get in France while in France? Baguette.

The bakery we went to didn’t have the long skinny baguette I was looking for, so I ended up with a long loaf of bread that I called baguette… I still regret how much I ate as a “snack”.

Unfortunately we were not allowed trying the wine on our school trip, but we did go to a cool winery in a cave and had sparkling juice. All of my pictures turned out terribly, but I’m sure you could imagine how cool a winery in a cave in France would be.

I definitely didn’t get enough pictures of the food. There were only a few meals that weren’t a part of the tour that were amazing. I think our tour company skimped out on good food and kept it nice and cheap so that wasn’t so nice. A few things I remember being noteworthy were duck patté on bread with dijon mustard, a ham, swiss and egg crêpe, strawberry nutella crêpe, and CRÈME BRÛLÉE. That was still the best darn thing I’ve ever had!!!!!

I think I need to go back just to try the food on my terms and find what true French cuisine is like.

We stopped in a few towns on our way to our final destination, Paris. I really loved seeing the countryside and all of the non-touristy places. If I went back, I would base my whole trip on this portion instead of whizzing past it all.

I often wonder if people who are from Europe think castles are cool. To me, even this “small” castle has a story to tell. I like to picture what might’ve been going on when it was in its prime. Also, I wonder about how they made it back when it was built. How did they get such perfect cylinders and cones?!

We went to a lot of touristy areas while we were in Paris. This is where I learned that sometimes you shouldn’t listen to all of the hype. They were still cool, but I felt like I was only going because it’s what everyone does instead of understanding why it’s spectacular. For example, the Mona Lisa was a bit disappointing. It was waaaaaaaaaaaay smaller than I thought it would be and the room was PACKED.

Quite honestly, I don’t know why I needed a picture beside it. It was so hard to get to the front that I didn’t even spend enough time looking at the actual art work. I just wanted to show I was there. Perhaps it was because I was 17, but now I don’t think I would do such a thing. The Louvre was truly amazing, but I would need to spend about 3 days walking through the whole building. I think we only stayed for a few hours.

My first impression of L’Arc du Triomphe was different than I had expected. I had no idea it was in the middle of a chaotic round-a-bout. I somehow took a picture with minimal cars, but that was after waiting a good 45 minutes until the area cleared up. Cars and buses and everything in between just drive all over the place all crazy, it seemed impossible to actually go and see the structure.

Finally, the Eiffel Tower. Whenever I thought about this, I pictured romantic gardens surrounding the area, and a beautiful view from the top. However, I found that it was a little different. There were dozens of people aggressively trying to sell key chains at the bottom, and trying to take your picture and sell it to you. At the top, you had to look through a chain link fence (which I understand was for safety reasons) and could barely see the city because of the smog. I also didn’t think of how windy and cold it would be. It was still cool to actually see the structure and there was some beauty in the surrounding area away from the crowds. I probably wouldn’t need to see it again, but I’m glad I did.

In conclusion, my first impression of Europe had nothing to do with the touristy places. The most amazing parts were all of the little things. From attempting to order in French at a hole-in-the-wall café, to walking on cobblestone streets, to exploring villages.

I think one of the main reasons why I travel is to find different things from what I am used to. However, if I seek out the touristy places to find what a country is “known for” I’ll miss part of the adventure of travelling.

I believe that as long as you can find the beauty in anything rather than seeking out the most popular areas to get the experience you’re looking for, you will have a very fulfilling journey.